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Experience

In sports, it can be one of the most important intangibles. Teams with experience are comfortable and confident because they have done it before. They have competed at the highest level and found success in the past upon which they could draw in the present. When applied to cross country, experience can be a significant factor in a team’s success. You know how to prepare for the rigors of the season.  You know how to push yourself in all kinds of workouts. You know how to listen to your body and handle aches and pains.  You know what to do in a race and when it should be done. You know how to get the most out of yourself.  Often, experienced teams are the best teams. 

For the last four years, thanks to the Class of 2009, MXC has had experience. This group of boys first started pounding the pavement and racing around the track when they were in 7th grade. In the six years that they competed for the Quakers, they developed experience in almost every aspect of the sport. They understood the training. The understood the racing. They understood the expectations. They ran with purpose and passion in races small and big. And our team was better for it. 

Of course, this spring they also experienced graduation. Now, for the first time in years, our team is bereft of experience. Few of our returning runners have experienced a full year of running, learning to manage their training and maximized their preparation for the season. Few of our returning runners have experienced competitive varsity races, where they will have to consistently compete and push their bodies to the personal bests. And, few of our returning runners have raced in big meets that define every team’s season, where they will be depended upon to help our team maintain its high level of performance expectations. 

So where does that leave us?

One word - Potential

In athletics, it is the flip side of experience. Potential represents not what you have done, but what you might do. It is not limited by past experiences, but banks on experiences yet to come. In that way, it opens performance up to possibility. Runners with potential realize that their best is yet to come. They constantly drive forward, confident that they have yet to reach the limits of their performances. Teams with potential have the capacity for great growth and, hopefully, great accomplishment.

This team has potential. As a whole, they have only lately come of age in the sport. From the seniors, who have steadily improved from their initial experiences running freshman year, to a large group of sophomores looking to build on a strong opening year running for MHS, the entire team has shown all the elements necessary to be a successful cross country team. They have talent. They have depth. They have knowledge. They have toughness. If they can put it all together, this year’s team could be great.

Of course, potential is nothing if it is not realized. That will be the story of this season. Apparently, it will be quite an experience.

Coach Eagles, Betten & Bickel